The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 377: It’s hard to act in front of your friend

Chapter 377: It’s hard to act in front of your friend

"You stole Brother Valmeier’s body?!"

"Ian--"

The young paladin raised his voice as well as his shield. He would raise his spear too, if it wasn’t for Ignis binding him in a whip of fire and Jade angrily chirping at him while blasting harmless water balls--because I told the little bird we shouldn’t hurt them.

"Ugh--what..."

Illian staggered back from the water balls, and the shield fell from his hand as the flame from Ignis smacked his arm. At the same time, the humans stood up; Fatia and the Hero approached the young paladin--fortunately, not to support his agression.

"Ian, you shouldn’t do that--let your spear go!"

"Valmeier, can you release him?" the Hero asked me while standing in front of the younger guy. "I promise he won’t try to attack you again."

"He’s not Brother Valmeier--ugh!"

Another hard splash landed on his face, followed by a series of splashes that ended up spraying the Hero and the Elementalist too.

[Bad Human! Don’t shout at Master! Bad! BAD!]

No one knew what Jade was chirping so loudly about, but they should know the message already. My little guardian flew around and smacked the young paladin’s head with another waterball, before landing on top of his head and stomping around on it.

"Ugh--what is--ack! Wait! Wait!"

"Valmeier--"

"Oh, wow..."

Three kinds of reactions came from the stumbling paladin, the helpless Hero, and the amazed Elementalist. I pressed my lips to stifle a laugh and called my little companions.

"Ignis, you can release him--Jade, come here," I stretched out my arms and my little bird came to me while crying.

[Human bad! Bad Human! Jade don’t like that human!]

"I know, baby," I patted the distressed bird that was hugging my neck while wailing. "It’s okay, it’s just...a misunderstanding."

"Misunderstanding or not, no guest should raise their hands against the host," Ignis spat at the group of humans. "What unscrupulous brat."

But...you are of the same age, Ignis.

I chuckled and stroked the flaming head to calm the Salamander. Just like how Jade only attacked with harmless water balls, Ignis didn’t input heat on its fire whip, so the kid didn’t get burned.

"W-what are you l-laughing for?! Y-you took Brother Valmeier’s body and--"

"Ian!" this time, the Hero raised his voice, and the young paladin finally shut up. It seemed like he only listened to the Hero, since he left the church to follow him anyway.

Well, I already knew something like this would happen. This was the reaction I had expected from people who found out my real identity, just like how I expected Zia would react back then.

So, yeah...I was ready for it.

I just didn’t think it would hurt.

"Seems like it has become rather chaotic, but I should finish my introduction," I stared at the young paladin’s reddened eyes. "I am Valen, and I was Valmeier. We were two halves of the same soul, each living different lives in different worlds. And when I died in the other world, the other half of my soul was calling me back home."

There were also different reactions this time. Ceci--Zarfa--was holding my arm, mumbling. "As I thought, you too..."

Aina was just silent, observing the situation with neutral eyes--since it wasn’t such a shocking experience for her, I bet.

The other humans, meanwhile, were looking at me with shock and doubt.

"For me to be fully healed, Amrita was not enough," I just continued since they kept silent. "I had to merge my split soul," I looked at Illian again. "I had to merge with Valmeier."

"What--"

"And Valmeier told me to take control," I told them, truthfully, of what he conveyed to me silently. "He told me he had lived enough, that he had fulfilled his role--so here I am."

Looking at them, looking at him, I announce firmly the decision that both of us made. Us. Me. "I am Valen, and I am Valmeier, as I had received his legacy," and then I added softly. "Even if you don’t think it’s true."

The young paladin seemed to be frozen; his eyes still widened and his lips still parted in shock. I reckoned it would take time for him to digest everything, but I didn’t have the time nor the willingness to coddle him into acceptance. Perhaps I would be willing to convince him more if it was the old me, but...I knew now that I had the same right as anybody else to live my life in this world, and I had people who would be devastated if I were to be gone.

With a sigh, I raised my hand in their direction and sent a wisp of warm wind to dry the drenched paladin and the other two humans.

"You can ponder about it all you want, but I think you have a more pressing matter to be discussed," I pointed at the couch again. "So, shall we resume our talk?"

Fatia glanced at the paladin for a second, before getting back to the couch without any more hesitation. Illian might have been her teammate these past few weeks, but he couldn’t be more important than the tens of thousands of citizens on the brink of famine in her land.

She cleared her throat and looked at me carefully. "Pardon me for being impertinent, Sir; but you seemed to know about our reason for coming here--"

"For infiltrating, you mean?" I smirked, and she became a bit meek, fiddling with her hands on her lap. "But yes, aren’t you here for Amrita?"

"Y-yes!" she perked up for a second before trying to keep her poker face again. "Y-you said it’s real, didn’t you? So--"

"It is real," I smiled, pondering if I should show them the bottle. But...hmm, I didn’t think they had shown any form of sincerity. "I wonder though...what kind of deal have you prepared for the Demon Lord of Greed?"

Fatia flinched and swallowed nervously. She glanced at Zarfa then, who I supposed was their ’sponsor’. The princess of Midas, who finally took a seat again, faced me and spoke after biting her lips for a while.

"We were going to offer some...treasure--I mean, collectible things--to the Demon Lord," she said, looking a bit embarrassed at the idea. I saw her glancing around the room earlier, and well...if she was the daughter of one of the wealthiest merchant guilds in the Human Realm, she should know the worth of everything in this room.

No; she should know the worth of the whole Tower when she came inside. Especially if she came through the rooftop and passed the top floor.

Perhaps she would act more confident if she talked to another middleman, but it seemed hard for her to put on a facade in front of me.

"What kind of collectible things? I kind of know his taste," I replied with a smile, even though there was no need for them to negotiate with Natha in the first place.

After all, the Amrita was already mine, and Natha had given me permission to do whatever I wanted with it.

"Oh, so--"

"Wait a minute," our talk was suddenly cut short by a sharp voice--again, from the young paladin. It seemed like he had snapped out of his stupor to insert himself into the conversation. "Why are we suddenly negotiating with him? The owner of the Amrita is the Demon Lo--ack!"

Once again, his face was getting blasted by a particularly big water ball that soaked him instantly.

"Jade," I patted the little bird who stood on the armrest haughtily as if it hadn’t been crying just a few minutes before.

[Hmph!] Jade stomped its foot on the armrest. [Don’t dry him again, Master!]

Fine, I wouldn’t. I chuckled and stroked the green head to calm the little bird. "But, well...it took you so long to ask about it, huh?"

"No, I purposefully didn’t ask."

I turned to look at Zarfa and raised my brow in surprise. She was smiling and shook her head. "Hmm?"

"I mean...you’re here in this place, freely giving orders to the demon," she shrugged. "Doesn’t that mean you have enough authority to be the Demon Lord’s proxy?."

"Hmm..."

"Knowing you, you probably asked him to handle it yourself, didn’t you?" she looked at me with clear eyes, as if she was looking at the past me; the Valen that she knew. "You told him you’ll be the one to negotiate with us so there won’t be too much fighting involved and we won’t get hurt--that’s why you just let us in--right?"

Oh? I mean...she was accurate about everything, but there was no fun in admitting it too quickly, right?

"Mm? How do you know?" I propped my chin on my palm, leaning against the armrest as I looked at her with curled eyes, dropping my tone. "What if I’m just a prisoner?"

"There’s no way a prisoner will stay in the master suite or order the other demons around," she scoffed, looking at the Salamander and the little elemental bird that had been covering me in an invisible mana barrier all this time. "There’s no way a prisoner could keep their familiars like this."

I leaned back and shrugged. "Perhaps the Demon Lord is stronger than me and my companions combined?"

My little bird suddenly turned around and stomped its feet again. [No way! Master stronger than Nightmare!]

Shut up, Jade. I’m trying to act here!

Ignoring Jade, I challenge her further while looking at the other human guests. "What if I was told that if I can trap you here, he’ll release me in return?" I glanced at the young paladin, who was hissing at my statement. "Maybe I’m just stalling for time until he gets here."

"Pfft--" Zarfa covered her mouth to stifle a laugh. Damn--was I that lousy of an actor? The other human looked quite terrified by the prospect, though. But my old friend just chuckled and shook her head. "No way; I know you, Val," she leaned forward and looked straight into my eyes. "There’s no way someone who paid for medical bills despite not having any blood relationship with me could do that."

Ah, damnit--don’t expose me like that, girl!

"People changed," I tried to argue while mustering the small expertise I had on keeping a poker face.

"Nope!" she shook her head firmly. "Even if they do, their core stay true to their soul."

Ah...what could I say if she brought up the matter of soul? Seeing as I didn’t respond anymore, she continued with a wider smile.

"After all, you could just subdue us with force," Zarfa looked around the room. "You have your familiars, the elemental birds, the wyvern, and all the demons at your disposal, no?"

Her words seemed to be directed not just at me, but at the others too--especially the feisty young paladin. The elementalist came to that realization and nodded after making a musing face.

"Indeed," I stroked Jade’s head and smiled at the grinning girl. "It’s hard to deceive one’s friend."

She laughed and grabbed my hand, which was perching on the armrest. No matter how hard I tried to act cool, I was so glad that she seemed to be as happy as I was to see each other; to find each other even after our lives had ended the first time.

But still, I had a part to play.

"I wondered, though..." I looked at her teasingly, before sweeping my gaze across the other humans. "Do you really think you can negotiate for Amrita with just that?" I raised my brow. "Or...are you going to fight him in the end?"

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